For those who delighted in saying my question on #Peston to the deputy CMO Jonathan Van Tam about possible use of antibody tests (blood tests) to detect live virus was pointless and stupid, this may be worth a read. To repeat, I was not arguing FOR the antibody tests to be...
used to assess who are ill with #Covid19, though this Nature paper says "seroconversion" (presence of antibody in blood) happens after 7 days in half of all patients and all patients after 14 days. It may of course be that NONE of the so-called rapid flow strip tests will...
ever be accurate enough to confirm live virus. I don't dispute that. But surely it is the job of a journalist to probe an expert like Van Tam, especially since the government has spent several million pounds buying kits from China's Wondfo that claim to be able to...
detect the antibodies relatively soon after infection. Sorry if I sound defensive, but we are at a pretty pass if journalists are denigrated simply for probing how and why decisions vital to our health and wellbeing are being made.
